Just Watched Movies (2010)

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Stigmata-A woman finds that her strange supernatural phenomena inflicted upon her is related to the tortures Christ experienced on the cross. This really wasn't all that good at all. Just way too much religious nonsense, which I should've expected, but was still expecting something resembling a horror film. Too Thriller-ish though for my tastes, and while it's certainly bloody enough, not much else I can say about it.

Romeo Must Die-Easily my favorite of the brief period of hip-hop/kung-fu crossover films, one of Jet's best American films and features a lot more humor than expected, probably a big reason for the enjoyability. Some great fights, though not up to the standards he had in Hong Kong, just a more Americanized take on a type of film he would do. Not his best, but certainly a good one.

Cradle 2 the Grave-Somewhat decent and enjoyable, though it's a bit convoluted in the beginning which screams of last-minute rewrites since the allegiances it sets up are never followed up on or have an impact on the story at all. The action isn't as impressive as Romeo in just about every category, including a final fight that belongs in a film where it was already less impressive than earlier standards. It's still watchable, but it's just simply a case of way too much good stuff elsewhere to compare.

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Hearts of Midnight-Woman inherits a strange nightclub from her deceased grandfather and finds that a mysterious cult wanted her there all along to perform a specific ritual. Man, another utterly terrible film, basically nothing at all here worthwhile. No scares, no atmosphere, no feelings of being a horror film, no action, no energy, nothing. Just a stupid, crappy drama/thriller that gets lumped in because of the cult angle, which doesn't help much and makes the film utterly suck.

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Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers- A young woman's sudden change of behavior is blamed on a supernatural possession, and a priest is called in who must exorcise the demon from her in order to save her. Typical Exorcist rip-off, hits all the same notes, goes through the same motions, pretty much exactly as you’d figure it to be. Nothing original here, but still, for some reason, it’s still somewhat watchable. Not entirely enjoyable, but still watchable.

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Hillside Cannibals-A group of friends are attacked on a desert trip by a clan of inbred cannibals descended from Sawney Bean, and when several of them escape, they fight back against them in order to escape. Not all that great, as it's mostly good scenes are either marred by extremely terrible lighting or edited to hell, and it really takes a long time to get going, considering the small cast involved, but it does have a moment or two here and there that makes it pretty enjoyable. You've just seen it all before, as it really does nothing new within the genre or really strike out with anything memorable. Watchable, but extremely forgettable.

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The Tommyknockers-A small Maine town is the center of a strange series of incidents related to the discovery of an unknown object in the woods behind the town causing all the mayhem. Too overlong to be of anything remotely watchable, trim this down and I'd find something to like within. As it stands, nothing much.

The Terror Within-A military research group out in the desert is attacked by a strange creature they accidentally uncovered during their mission. While this must be due to the fact that it was a simple 80s cheesefest, this one came out the big winner amongst the week. Not a whole lot of flaws, a decent creature and some rather fun stalking scenes due to the rather suspenseful setting. Not a spectacular effort, but a lot of fun regardless.

Mothman-A small town is the center of a series of strange accidents purportedly instigated by a legendary creature stalking a group of friends for covering up an accident years ago. Almost completely unwatchable in the first half, due to a series of nonsensical attack scenes and a total cheat of a monster, this one really gets better in the second half where it's a little more watchable, but it's still not all that great either. The first stinker from Sci-Fi for the year.

Cadaver-A group of medical students operating on a female cadaver are suddenly subjected to a series of strange accidents none of them can explain. I expected more from this Asian ghost effort, but it still gets the job done in terms of outstanding scenes, a creepy feel and actually manages a good set-up now and then. Most would find this one unneeded, but there's worse out there.

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Hood Rat-A destitute man living in a crumbling apartment complex befriends a rat living there as well, and soon the rats start to attack the patrons in increasingly violent actions. Tends to become a little goofy at times, especially with the relationship that develops since it's quite unlikely to actually happen as portrayed, but it kept my interest, the attacks aren't that bad and it's an overall fine urban horror film. So much more refreshing than the usual slasher trope that they produced, so it's a quite decent effort.

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The Chair- A young woman moves into an apartment house and comes to believe that the creepy noises and hauntings she encounters are the result of a former tenant coming back into the Earthly realms after an encounter with a Satanic missionary a hundred years earlier. Too, too many flaws here (from non-scary scare scenes to unexplored ideas and unquestioned motives) plus a dull, lagging pace make this one entirely skippable. Not all that worthwhile at all.

The Garden- A troubled young boy and his father happen upon the farm of a man who has something far more sinister in mind that merely patching them up for their road trip home. A lot better than it sounds, although the film is way too talky at times and the usual beast of bullshit, religion, makes an appearance as well, but the action is pretty creepy and it definitely keeps you interested, so I say it's decent but unspectacular.

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Werewolf: The Devil's Hound-A group of friends finds that a series of strange animal attacks in their area are the result of a werewolf sought by a team of mercenaries and must stop it and their bitten friend before it start a litter its own. A highly disappointing effort, as there’s a ton of action to go through here and most of them are either very well-done or incredibly entertaining, yet at the end of the day, the massive amount of flaws present are just too massive to overtake the good parts. It’s still pretty entertaining though.

Skinwalkers-A woman discovers that two different races of werewolves are waging a war for her son, who, depending on which side he joins, will usher in a new age for werewolves or the Armageddon of the human race by the creatures. A lot more action than possible, tons of shootouts and chases, great effects on the werewolf transformations and a general sense of fun make this one a quality entry. Sure, the rating here does hurt since it doesn’t go to the extremes that a war would usually dictate, but it’s a minor knock and not a debilitating one at that, since it gets along just fine without it.

Pontypool-A radio announcer and his staff witness a viral outbreak that turns its victims into general raving maniacs that are supposedly looking for blood. There’s just way, way too many flaws in this laughable excuse for a zombie film. From the fact that there’s nothing at all scary about the creatures, which aren’t on-screen at all and are so unlike normal zombies that to be able to put these pathetic creatures against films like Zombie 2, Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Dead is an utter insult, and while this one does score points for originality, not having that change produce anything remotely related to quality is a massive misfire. Skip this one wholeheartedly.

Blood: The Last Vampire-A demon slayer is sent to a US Air Force Base in Japan to study a recent outbreak of supposed demonic activity, and her and her new friend come face to face with the creature that killed her father years ago, setting her off on a blood-stained path of vengeance. Now this was a ton of fun, lots of action, huge amounts of bloodshed and literally a ton of things to like about it. Sure, the film doesn’t do a very good job editing it’s action scenes and the use of CGI for all of it’s bloodshed is a joke, but at least something happens in this one, which can’t be said for the above.

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Dorm-A young boy is sent off to live in a student dormitory at his new school, and after learning of several of the local legends about it being haunted, befriends one of the ghosts and tries to help him pass on. Barely a horror film, not a whole lot I can go into here since, with nothing much about it being horror, there's not a lot there. If you're into Asian horror, you might give this one a look but it's not a killer ghost movie that we know and love.

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The Fear-A group of friends on a psychology retreat at a remote cabin suddenly find themselves the center of an ongoing mystery with strange disappearances related to a special life-size wooden doll found there. Not as good as would be suggested, since this one is pretty heavily touted as having Wes Craven involved, and he's only got five minutes of screen-time so his involvement is pretty ridiculous to advertise a movie with. Beyond that, it takes way too long to get to the good stuff, and strangely, despite them being there for a fear-study, the death's aren't based around that fact and come off like a regular slasher film death. While that does lead to some good moments here and there, and that is a pretty freaky-looking doll, this could've been much better.

The Fear: Resurrection-A group of friends head to a ranch out in the wilderness to participate in a ritual where they loose their fears, but instead awaken a serial killer that begins to target them using their fears instead. A little bit better than the original, a better pace, more focus on the fears-leading-to-the-kills that the first one was utterly mis-obsessed with, and the doll still looks quite freaky, even though it's a bit cheesy. I'd say it's pretty fun.

[Termination]

Hope this place stays around. I got some watching to do & will share. Been busy.

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Whenever's a good time, man. ;D

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The Horror Show-After seeing a notorious serial killer into the electric chair, a cop discovers that he has the ability to travel through electrical currents and is now targeting his family as revenge for being captured. A lot of fun, especially considering it's abundance of 80s cheese all wrapped up in a rather entertaining story, and while it's got it's flaws (mainly a lot of the cheesier moments haven't really aged well and it gets a little too cliche-happy at times, among others) but overall it's a really good effort. Better than expected, actually.

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The Locals-A guy and his friend stumble across a deranged family of killers and psychopaths, but the more involvement they have, the more they discover is going on than they realize. Once you get past the fact that nothing is told about what's going on until almost an hour into it, this one is actually pretty good. It starts off almost immediately, keeps on with a great pace, but it just needs to explain itself and knock off more than it did. Not a lot of deaths here, but it's still a lot better once it gets going.

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Shiver-A young boy and his mother move to a quiet village to help him deal with a restrictive skin disease, and stumble upon a series of vicious murders that he is unwittingly blamed for, although he has other ideas about the culprit. Man, this movie rocks big time. Atmospheric as hell, gory, graphic, fantastic mystery, lots of action, great scares and a big sense of fun. A few flaws (story could use a little more fleshing out as it sorta drops a couple points along the way and sticks to cliches for the last half) but the rest of the positives here overcome this. Highly worthwhile.